Tag: Duke University

“For me the scariest part is – and this has been said in the black community for decades – what happened this past week was that things we know exist came to the surface,” said Francesca Leigh-Davis, who co-hosts the RVA Dirt local politics radio show in Richmond, the Virginia state capital. To the outsider, Virginia has been moving left politically over the past decade, to the extent that some have mused whether the state, which brushes up against Washington, DC, in the north-east, should even still be considered part of ‘The South’, in the parlance of the US civil war. Simply because when you drive down the street in Richmond, there are confederate memorials. Monument Avenue, which runs from west Richmond towards the State Capitol, is a veritable rogues gallery of confederate figures. On Thursday there were again protests at Virginia’s capitol, although this time not over the blackface scandal. She thought Northam should resign because of the abortion bill, but was also turned off by the blackface controversy. The drive west from Richmond, through a barren landscape , leads to the town of Appomattox where the court house is one of the most important sites in US history. It’s not funny.” The political crisis in Virginia is a test for the Democratic party | Douglas Williams Read more Myers, 50, is only seven years younger than Herring, yet said he had never seen any of his contemporaries don shoe polish, dark makeup, or any other form of blackface. He was also troubled by the allegations against Fairfax. If any good ultimately comes from the sorry scandal in the corridors of state power, then one message at Heyer’s memorial might seem particularly relevant: “We all can create a better world,” it says.

Despite decades of psychology research that shows fostering contact between "us" and "them" is a powerful way to reduce prejudice, scientists are starting to find that you can't just shove people together — online or in person — and expect the interaction to have miraculous effects. That became crystal clear to Christopher Bail, a sociologist who heads the Duke University Polarization Lab, after he designed an experiment to disrupt people's echo chambers on Twitter. After a month, Republicans exposed to the Democratic account became much more conservative, while Democrats exposed to Republican tweets reported slightly more liberal views. He said can't be sure how the tweets had their effect in his study, but he pointed to a recent, counterintuitive body of research chronicling backfire effects. In a second try, one group of people got to see how others answered the question, on average. It’s that communication in a highly polarized context increases polarization," Centola said. "The contact hypothesis," Paluck found, "isn't supported with as much evidence as you thought." But the strength of the effect could depend on the kind of bias — contact was very effective at reducing prejudice against disabled people, for example. Ryan Enos, a political scientist at Harvard, recently conducted an experiment in which he surveyed people waiting on commuter rail platforms at rush hour about their views on immigration. “If you think about the situation of American politics, right now,” Enos said, “it’s the exact opposite.” Read more:

What will the elections of 2018 reveal about the current state of American political parties and the ideological polarization between liberals and conservatives? The Challenge at Muhlenberg links academic departments, offices of student affairs and student organizations, including ‘BergVotes, in collaborative efforts to increase meaningful campus dialogue, promote voter registration and mobilization and create a more inclusive democracy. The Challenge does not support or oppose candidates for public office or take positions with respect to political parties. Gun Control Politics Over Two Decades of Change Thursday, September 13 Moyer Hall, Miller Forum, 7 p.m. Goss’ work focuses on how everyday Americans participate in public life—with a particular focus on guns, gender and giving—and why it matters. The Kevin D. Gorter Associate Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Duke University, Goss is author of “The Paradox of Gender Equality: How American Women’s Groups Gained and Lost Their Public Voice” (University of Michigan Press, 2013) and “Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America” (Princeton University Press, 2006, 2009) and co-author of “The Gun Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know” (Oxford University Press, 2014). A visiting assistant professor of political science at Muhlenberg, Dardani earned his B.A. Election Night Party Tuesday, November 6 Seegers Union, Red Door, 7 p.m. Join friends and colleagues for an evening of pizza, live news coverage and election returns as the nation selects its new leaders. Thursday, February 7, 2019 Moyer Hall, Miller Forum, 7 p.m. Deneen is the author of “Why Liberalism Failed” (Yale University Press, 2018), which has been reviewed by dozens of major media outlets including The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Voting at Muhlenberg College Seegers Union at Muhlenberg College is the polling place for the 11th Ward, 4th District in Allentown. To register to vote in other locations, contact your local county board of elections, or visit the Muhlenberg Office of Community Engagement for assistance.